February Edition 2018 IN THIS ISSUE. Significant Dates: This month in AA history. Can't Miss: What's happening this month

Transcription

1 February Edition 2018 IN THIS ISSUE Significant Dates: This month in AA history Can't Miss: What's happening this month Committee Announcements: What are those Intergroup committees up to this month? Your Writings: You wrote in, we posted it SOS Funnies: Not a Glum Lot Topic Time: Topic for next month and call for entries.

2 Significant Dates in AA History 1937 First New Jersey Meeting was held at the home of Hank P ( The Unbeliever in the first edition) 1938 Rockefeller gives $5,000 to AA Saves AA from professionalization First organization meeting of Philadelphia AA was held at McCready Huston s room at 2209 Delancy St During gas rationing in WWII, AA s are granted the right to use cars for 12 th step work in emergency cases AA granted Recording for the Blind permission to tape the Big Book st issue of Markings AA Archives Newsletter is published. Notable Deaths Feb 19, 1967 Father John Doe (Ralph P), 1 st Catholic Priest in AA dies. Feb 9, 2002 Sue Smith Windows, Dr. Bob s daughter, died. (She had been active with AA for most of her life on a national and local level.)

3 Can't Miss Events! Indianapolis Intergroup Fair Sunday February 11, 2018 Pancakes and Sausage 9:00-Stay for Meeting at 9:30 WHERE: U.A.W. Union Hall 2320 S Tibbs Avenue Indianapolis Indiana See Flyer: Click Here 54th International Women s Conference February 15, 2018 February 18, 2018 All-day WHERE: Sheraton Grand Phoenix Hotel 340 N 3rd St Phoenix, AZ USA See Flyer: Click Here

4 2018 Indiana State Convention February 23, 2018 February 25, 2018 All-day WHERE: Hendricks County Fairgrounds 1900 E Main St Danville, IN COST: $30.00 CONTACT: Central Office See Flyer: Click Here Committee Announcements ********************************************************************** Quarterly Committee Meeting Sat. February 3rd, 1-3 pm Central Office-1915 West 18th St.,Suite D (enter on West side of building) ********************************************************************** Special Events Committee Coordinates, publicizes and documents all special events throughout the year for the use of the Committee in following years, such as the Annual Banquet. Correctional Facilities Committee Coordinates the work of individual A.A. members and groups who carry the message of recovery to alcoholics in correctional facilities.

5 Treatment Facilities Committee Coordinates the work of individual A.A. members and groups who carry the message of recovery to alcoholics in treatment facilities, hospitals, and rehabilitation centers. Arranges volunteer groups to attend scheduled A.A. meetings. Telephone Answering Committee Coordinates individual A.A. members to answer telephone calls on their personal phones when the Indianapolis Intergroup office is closed. Public Information Committee (School Talks) Carries the A.A. message to the Indianapolis and surrounding communities through school, news media, civic groups, business organizations, clergymen, doctors, alcoholic treatment centers, hospitals, judges, and court programs. Handles requests by area schools, the media, and civic and business groups. Provides individual members to staff health fair booths and other entities as they may appear. Sheet Of Sobriety (S.O.S.) Committee Assembles articles and submissions for publication from Indianapolis A.A. Members, Intergroup Committee Chairs, and the Central Office Manager for the monthly newsletter; Sheets Of Sobriety (S.O.S.). Publications provided digitally via subscription and on the both free of charge. Finance Committee Reviews and oversees pertinent financial concerns, budgets, and accounting. Nominating Committee Seeks out individual A.A. members to stand for election on the Service Committee. Cooperation with Professional Community (CPC) Committee Acts as a liaison between the professional community and Alcoholics Anonymous to further public awareness. Development Committee Develops greater group representation at the monthly intergroup meetings. Archives Committee Collects, categorizes, displays, and protects the historical A.A. documents and memorabilia of Indianapolis Intergroup. Accessibility Committee Makes A.A. available to Special Needs A.A. members, i.e. blind, visually impaired, deaf, confined to beds, or wheel chairs. Provide A.A. literature printed in Braille, large print or on CD. Locates interpreters in American Sign Language. Recruits A.A. members to take meetings into nursing and rest homes, etc. Service Committee- Includes Representatives for the four designated areas of town (North, East, South, West), the Intergroup Chair, Co-Chair and the Service Committee Chair.

6 All submissions are posted in their unaltered state and in no way reflect the opinion of The Sheets of Sobriety Committee Members. The Sheets of Sobriety reserves the right to edit spelling errors and major typos, but will do so in an extremely limited fashion in an effort to maintain the author's original work. Due to these limited edits, The SOS does not guarantee that posts will be free from errors in spelling, grammar, or punctuation. The SOS will not exclude any submission unless group conscious determines a submission to be overtly offensive or unrelated to Alcoholism. My First Amends My first amends was done outside on a patio in front of an angel fountain. It was warm but the sun seemed to be brighter afterwards. Like the Spirit of God had shown himself to me in this way for the first time. I wasn't even on the 9th step yet, but I had an opportune moment. My sister was in from Wisconsin, and she only comes once a year. Up to that point there had been a wedge, an unnerving silence, between us and it was broken. Afterwards, I could see the Spirit all around me. It was my first overt and obvious experience of God. Written by: Andrew E Amends What I know about amends is it is the apex of the working part of the steps, the eighth and ninth surrender, starting at step one. It allows me to go back in my life and see my mistakes, beyond just my part. With the help of a sponsor to guide me the first few times, but eventually I have developed the promise that I intuitively know how to handle situations which used to baffle me. Now days my sponsor and I talk about it afterwards, and it gives me confirmation I am growing. Early on my sponsor said to me, Have you forgiven them yet?, It pissed me off but he was right, you can t make amends to someone you still resent. We are neither servile or scraping when we make these amends, because for me I am right with GOD, and now the obsession is removed! Written By: Darryl S

7 Amends to Those I Love When I think back to when I first started working on my 9th step, making amends to those I had harmed. I was very scared and did not want to face these people, who surely all hated me for the things I had done. It was extremely difficult to humble myself enough to ask forgiveness for the things I had done throughout my years of drinking. My thinking was that most of them would be harboring hatred and ill wishes towards me. I thought that they would consider it as just more lies heaped upon what they had heard in the past. After all, hadn t I asked to be forgiven hundreds of times before? But once I started to approach the ones at the top of my list, the ones I had harmed the most, my ex-wife, my kids, my siblings, the attitude I encountered was very surprising to me. I was greeted not with hate and ill wishes, but rather compassion, acceptance and love. Most of these people, who were the most important people throughout my life, greeted me with attitudes of true forgiveness, and one of happiness for the changes they were seeing take place in me. They all agreed that the changes they saw, that I did not see in myself, was a miracle and ones they wished to see continue. I was told over and over to keep doing all the things I was doing. I found that those people, who were most important in my life, still loved me despite my past, and were very happy to see me succeed in my sobriety. And my relationships with them have only gotten stronger and better with each and every passing day. Written By: Anonymous

8 A man in a hot air balloon realized he was lost. He saw a person on the ground and yelled down to him, Can you help me? I don t know where I am. The man replied, Sure, I ll help you. You are in a hot air balloon hovering 30 feet above the ground...between 40 and 41 degrees North latitude and between 59 & 60 degrees West longitude. Wow, you must be an AA sponsor, said the man in the balloon. I am, said the man, but what gave me away? Well, answered the balloonist, everything you told me is technically right but I am still lost. Frankly you re not much help at all and you might even have delayed my trip. You must be an AA sponsee, replied the man. The man in the balloon was amazed and said, I am, but how did you know? The man on the ground said, Well, you don t know where you are or where you re going. You have risen to where you are due to a lot of hot air. You are expecting other people to solve your problems and the fact is that you are in exactly the same position you were in before we met, but, somehow now IT S MY FAULT!

9 Subscribe Topic Suggestion for March... CHANGES Share your Experience, Strength, and Hope on the Changes brought about in your life by the 12 Steps and the Fellowship of A.A. for the March Edition of S.O.S. Feel free to submit on any other A.A. related topic that you might like.

10 Submissions for March are due by February 25th. Any submissions received after February 25th will be included in the April Edition. Please submit to and title your "Newsletter Submission". Please keep all submission around 700 words or less. Include a title for your submission where applicable. If no title is included, we may provide one for you. If you wish to be published anonymously, DO NOT include your name in your document and please write "post anonymously" in your submission to SOS. If you wish for your name or initials to be published, please write it at the end of your submitted document exactly as you would like it published. If no indication of intent has been made, your submission will automatically be posted anonymously. Please note, only first names, first name and last initial, or initials only, will ever be published. We will never post last names even if you submit them. We look forward to hearing from you! Copyright 2018 indyaa.org, All rights reserved. Sheets Of Sobriety - February Our mailing address is: S.O.S West 18th St. Suite D Indianapolis, In sos@indyaa.org

11